Loretta Johnson is a labor union activist and the secretary-treasurer emeritus of the left-of-center American Federation of Teachers (AFT). ^[1]  Throughout her 54-year career of labor union activism, ^[2] Johnson worked as the secretary-treasurer of the AFT, vice president of the AFL-CIO, ^[3] president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, and president of the AFT-Maryland statewide chapter ^{[4] [5]} and was a trustee of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. ^[6]

In 2014, Johnson chaired AFT’s critical race theory-influenced “Racial Equity Task Force.” ^{[7] [8] [9]} The task force’s report claims that systemic cultural and institutional racism have extended back more than 400 years in the United States ^[10] and that the “fight for racial justice remains the unfinished business” of both the AFT and the United States. ^[11]

Career

Loretta Johnson is a labor union activist and the secretary-treasurer emeritus of the left-of-center American Federation of Teachers (AFT) labor union. ^[12] She has been a labor union activist for at least 54 years. ^[13]

Johnson supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^{[14] [15] [16]} She has also claimed that “segregation is keeping educational and economic opportunities out of African American hands” across the United States ^[17] and said that AFT’s work to support the lives of African American women and girls must include “black transgender women and nonconforming people of color.” ^[18]

She has worked to advance the critical race theory-influenced concepts of racial and economic justice in her various positions with the AFL-CIO labor union, as well. ^[19]

Union Activism

Lorretta Johnson’s career of union activism began in the late 1960s when she worked as a teacher’s aide in Baltimore City Public Schools. There she began to organize paraprofessional workers into the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU). ^{[20] [21]} Johnson helped negotiate the first BTU contract in 1970 and went on to work as the president of BTU for 35 years. During this time she also led the AFT-Maryland statewide chapter for 17 years and represented AFT on the National Taskforce on Paraprofessional Certification in 1979. ^{[22] [23] [24] [25] [26]}

In the early 1990s, Johnson was elected vice president of AFT, ^{[27] [28]} running on a slate with then-New York City United Federation of Teachers (UFT) labor union president Randi Weingarten. Upon Johnson’s departure from AFT, Weingarten called her a “powerhouse in every sense of the word.” ^[29]

Johnson was the executive vice president of the AFT until 2011, when she became the secretary-treasurer. She held that role until her retirement in 2020. ^[30] Johnson was also elected vice president of the AFL-CIO labor union in 2011. ^[31]

In 2014, Johnson chaired AFT’s critical race theory-influenced “Racial Equity Task Force.” ^{[32] [33] [34]} In the task force’s 2015 report, AFT claims that racial equity cannot be separated from the critical race theory-influenced concept of economic justice. ^[35] The report also claims that systemic cultural and institutional racism have extended back more than 400 years in the United States ^[36] and that the “fight for racial justice remains the unfinished business” of the AFT and the United States. ^[37] Johnson is “most proud of” chairing the Racial Equity Task Force and expressed hopes that the organization’s report will be viewed as her “legacy.” ^[38]

In 2019, Johnson joined the executive committee of the AFL-CIO’s Department of Professional Employees (DPE) as treasurer. This executive committee helped represent DPE’s 24-member coalition consisting of more than four million professional and technical union members. ^[39]

She retired from her role with AFT in 2020 and worked on AFL-CIO’s executive council until her retirement in 2021. ^{[40] [41]}

Johnson has been on the board of directors of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an African American “constituency group” of the AFL-CIO since 2008. ^[42] She is also on the board of directors of the left-progressive environmentalist organization BlueGreen Alliance, left-of-center Citizens for Tax Justice, Child Labor Coalition, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, ^[43] and the left-of-center Albert Shanker Institute, a labor union think tank operated by the AFT. ^[44]

Previously she was a trustee of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, ^[45] on the board of the Faith and Politics Institute, and the assistant treasurer for the Baltimore County chapter of the NAACP. ^[46]

During her activist career, Johnson was also on the board of AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department and the Services Trades Department, vice president of Metropolitan Baltimore Council AFL-CIO, and treasurer of the Municipal Employees Credit Union. ^[47] She has received community service awards from  United Way, a volunteer service award from the Maryland State AFL-CIO labor union, and a service award from the Baltimore Teachers Union’s paraprofessional chapter. ^[48]

Political Positions

Loretta Johnson is a member of the Democratic Party and has donated money to the Maryland Democratic Party. ^[49] In 2005, the Maryland Democratic Party named Johnson the labor leader of the year. ^[50]

In 2020, Johnson publicly supported the presidential campaign of Joe Biden (D), claiming that Biden “stands with unions.” ^{[51] [52]}  In 2018, Johnson received an Economy/Labor Service Award from the Baltimore County Democratic Party. ^[53]

In 2017, Johnson urged delegates of the California Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union, to “fight against” the agenda of then-President Donald Trump. ^[54] Johnson also called the Trump administration “a horror,” ^[55] opposed Trump administration immigration policies, ^[56] and supported the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton (D). ^[57]